When it comes to violent crime, it may not be the economy, stupid

MATT APUZZOAssociated Press

Published Friday, August 27, 2004

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- When Connecticut's largest city was mired in the economic slump of the early 1990s, the homicide toll climbed to record levels and drug dealers and gang leaders ruled, charging tolls to cross their turf.

Then, when economic relief came to Bridgeport in the late 1990s, violent crime fell, as it did in other big cities around the country.

It seemed obvious: Lead the state in unemployment, lead the state in homicides. Stop the recession, stop the violence. Crime and the economy move in opposite directions.

But recent years have turned that thinking on its head.

The drop-off in the stock market in 2000 brought tough economic times to Bridgeport. Since then, the region has lost more than 8,000 manufacturing jobs and city unemployment has more than doubled. Violent crime, meanwhile, has fallen 32 percent.

It wasn't an aberration. From San Jose, Calif., to Chattanooga, Tenn., cities across the country saw a dramatic fall in violent crime despite a downturn in the economy, spikes in unemployment and dips in the stock market.

It is a trend that is forcing police and criminologists to question the premise that crime is a product of the economy and only so much can be done to prevent it.

Bridgeport, population 140,000, saw 15 homicides last year, down from 60 a decade ago and 32 during the height of the late 1990s economic boom. Chapman, a product of the New York City Police Department, attributes the decline not to an increase in officers (he is down 57) but to the statistics-driven policing approach credited with polishing the Big Apple.

"The results have been nothing short of phenomenal," Mayor John Fabrizi said.

New York called its program Compstat: Map every crime and put cops on the dots. Address quality-of-life issues. Clean the streets. Watch crime fall.

"It's not rocket science. It's breaking down various police units and holding them accountable for what's going on," said Steve Parks, police chief in Chattanooga, Tenn., where violent crime is down 32 percent since 2000. "We can't control economic conditions, but there are some things law enforcement can do to control violent crime, even during a bad economy."

Today, cities big and small are duplicating Compstat and changing the way experts thinks about crime.

"What we did over the past decade is realize that everything we thought about crime is wrong and we need to find out what does work," said Gene Stephens, a former University of South Carolina criminal justice professor.

Stephens was one of many experts who, in the early 1990s, put much of the blame for rising crime rates on unemployment and poverty. Today, he is a consultant who teaches police officers that crime is not inevitable.

Police in successful cities say they do not let minor crimes go unnoticed and never let crime spikes become trends.